


Panserbjørne are Brilliant!

by LokiOfSassgaard



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-03
Updated: 2012-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-28 21:10:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6345241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiOfSassgaard/pseuds/LokiOfSassgaard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur wants to see <i>Panserbjørne</i>. That’s about it, really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Panserbjørne are Brilliant!

It wasn't so much that Douglas enjoyed being on standby, as much as he simply enjoyed watching Martin and Glykeria fidget while they were on standby. The small Magellanic penguin sat perched on the edge of Martin's desk, constantly ruffling and smoothing her feathers whilst he pretended to be busy with paperwork that had all been finished hours before.

Martin wasn't sure if it was Douglas or Ameretat who put him off more; Douglas because he was clearly enjoying some hidden joke between himself and his dæmon, or Ameretat because her coyote grin still felt far too wolfish for comfort. It was probably both, Martin realised, the more he thought about it.

"What do you want?" Martin finally snapped. "Don't you have a load sheet to be doing, or something?"

Douglas leaned back, he and his dæmon giving Martin matching grins now. It was even more unnerving than it had been only moments before.

"I would do my load sheet, but Sir has already taken it upon himself to complete it for me," he said easily. "Perhaps Sir should find a hobby, if Sir gets so easily bored."

Martin and Glykeria both glared at the cheek of the First Officer, but before anything could be said the entire Portakabin rattled with the force of something very large and moving very fast slamming into one of the windows. The impact was followed immediately by a chorus of groaning and, "I'm all right!" coming from outside.

"And it would appear as though Arthur has decided to join us," said Douglas.

The door opened and a large albatross waddled into the relative dryness of the Portakabin, followed by Arthur, who was keeping a tight pressure with both his hands over his face.

"Miyu, you have got to stop doing that," Arthur complained from behind his hands.

"Graceful landing as always, I see," said Ameretat.

Miyu responded by clicking her beak at the coyote. "It's not my fault the window was closed."

 

“Oh, is that why it was open?” asked Ameretat. “We thought it was getting rather draughty in here.” She said nothing about the hole in the ceiling that still let all manner of rain and shine into the small space.

Glykeria leapt from the edge of Martin's desk in what could only be described as a graceful fall and inspected Miyu's face, nipping at her lightly with her beak.

"You have to be more careful," she said. "One of these days, you may really hurt him."

The birds continued to nip lightly at one another as Carolyn emerged from her office with Lakshmana, her black jaguar dæmon, following lazily behind her.

"Good news, idiots. Clean yourselves up and file a flight plan for Svalbard. We leave in thirty minutes," she declared.

"Svalbard!" Arthur shouted with more cheer than he'd had since yesterday's breakfast, when he found two prizes in his cereal box. "Brilliant!"

"If you say so," Carolyn said, throwing a confused glance in the direction of her son, who was still holding his own face with both hands. "Did you forget to brush your teeth today, or is this some new game Douglas has invented?"

"Miyu hit the window again. Are we going to see _Panserbjørne_?" Arthur hardly missed a beat between the two sentences.

“Oh, is that what that was?” asked Carolyn dryly. “And here I thought we were being treated to a lightning-quick re-enactment of the Blitz.”

"Arthur, why would you want to see _Panserbjørne_?" asked Martin. He peered over the edge of his desk to see Glykeria and Miyu now grooming one another.

"Because _Panserbjørne_ are brilliant!" Arthur exclaimed. He finally dropped his hands away from his face, the brilliance of the _Panserbjørne_ apparently outweighing the pain from his dæmon having smashed face-first into the window.

"And how would you know?" asked Carolyn. "You've never seen one."

"No, but I've heard about them, and they sound brilliant!"

Carolyn shook her head and turned back to her office. "Well, go fix your face, or one's likely to mistake you for supper," she said.

Lakshmana lingered slightly, fixing a glare on the room that sent Martin scrambling to file his flight plan. Eager to do his pre-flight checks and avoid the harsh gaze of the massive feline, Martin scooped Glykeria up into his arms and rushed out of the Portakabin, ignoring her brief but scandalised squalling.

"Are you sure you two weren't somehow switched?" Lakshmana asked Miyu, referencing Martin's penguin. 

"Positive," said Miyu. "I've always been Arthur's dæmon."

Lakshmana hummed as he turned back to Carolyn's office. "Leave it up to Crieff to be the only commercial pilot in the skies with a flightless bird for a dæmon."


End file.
